This case study is about a full-scale project of urban upgrading with community-based water and sanitation in form of community ablution blocks in eThekwini, South Africa. As a component of a project of urban upgrading with community-based water and sanitation, 108 brick blocks were built by eThekwini Health, Architecture and Housing Departments and 240 container blocks were built by eThekwini Water and Sanitation Department (EWS). An estimated 600,000 inhabitants have been covered with the project.

The total investment costs for EWS - from January 2009 to December 2011 - was 280 million South African Rand (ZAR, 31 million EUR. The actual cost of prefabricated containers is 65,000 ZAR (7,200 EUR). The total costs for a pair of CABs, including transport, site preparation, O&M, hardware and software is approximately of 200,000 ZAR (22,100 EUR).

The planning institution was eThekwini Housing Department and EWS. The project was executed by EWS and consultancies companies (i.e. Aurecon, SBA); local contractors (i.e. Sanyati, WBHO) and subcontractors (i.e. Emzini Projects) with the support of eThekwini municipality of Durban, South Africa.